Diad III

Here is the latest in a string of "OH MY GOD, IT'S PEAK. WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN. WHY DID NO ONE TELL US IT WOULD GET SO BUSY!!" moments from our center team.

Any driver that is within a certain distance of the building now must use the diad III, because we do not have enough of the IV's for all the routes. They want to give the IV's to the extended drivers so they can stay in contact with them. Told all of us with the III's they would just call our cell phones if they needed us or had an OCA or something. I said great, I'll send you my phone bill at the end of the month!! Never heard a peep out of them yesterday!! Do they think only the in town drivers have cell phones, why do we get the crap boards, when we have the most bulk and stops to deal with.

We have 63 drivers in our center, peak plan is for 73 routes, ran 66 routes yesterday and do not have enough diads for those!!

Here is the latest in a string of "OH MY GOD, IT'S PEAK. WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN. WHY DID NO ONE TELL US IT WOULD GET SO BUSY!!" moments from our center team.

Any driver that is within a certain distance of the building now must use the diad III, because we do not have enough of the IV's for all the routes. They want to give the IV's to the extended drivers so they can stay in contact with them. Told all of us with the III's they would just call our cell phones if they needed us or had an OCA or something. I said great, I'll send you my phone bill at the end of the month!! Never heard a peep out of them yesterday!! Do they think only the in town drivers have cell phones, why do we get the crap boards, when we have the most bulk and stops to deal with.

We have 63 drivers in our center, peak plan is for 73 routes, ran 66 routes yesterday and do not have enough diads for those!!

What a great plan!!

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Using DIAD 3's for peak season is not new. In fact, its been part of the plan for quite some time.

As was mentioned, DIAD 3's and 4's both communcate and have text messaging, so their reaons for giving 3's to the close in drivers makes no sense.

Every year, Corporate sends out extra DIAD for the drivers and helpers. Having a DIAD for every driver and helper should not be a problem.

No text messaging capabilities and no way to communicate without a phone. Not just for helpers, for drivers as well. It's kinda nice actually, not bothered with any ODS messages all day. No OCA, other than the slowness It comes back to ya, I do get paid by the hour!!

The last time we went out on paper, they told us, "It doesn't take any longer to sheet up packages with paper than it does with a diad." They'll probably tell you that when they run out of boards and send some drivers out on paper.

Using DIAD 3's for peak season is not new. In fact, its been part of the plan for quite some time.

As was mentioned, DIAD 3's and 4's both communcate and have text messaging, so their reaons for giving 3's to the close in drivers makes no sense.

Every year, Corporate sends out extra DIAD for the drivers and helpers. Having a DIAD for every driver and helper should not be a problem.

P-Man

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One of the really annoying issues we are dealing with is that the driver/helper teams are being dispatched with dissimilar boards; the driver has a DIAD IV whereas the helper has a DIAD III.

Its hard enough to train a helper to become proficient on one type of DIAD. Getting him to be productive with two different ones is almost impossible. I cant count the number of times I have had to wait...and wait...and wait... while my helper is "locked up" on a screen in his DIAD that he cant get out of.

What makes this worse is the "quota". Operations or IE or some other entity has mandated that each driver helper sheet a minimum quota of 40 stops in his DIAD. This might seem like a bright idea from behind a desk, but in the real world it is a pain in the ass and most drivers simply prerecord the required 40 stops into the helper board before leaving in the morning in order to spoon-feed the corporate minder the number he wants to look at.

It would make a lot more sense to standardize DIAD types and let the driver with experience and area knowledge make the decision as to how many stops his helper will sheet. Some helpers are proficient with the DIAD; others arent. We are the ones who are out there working with them in the real world. Give us the tools we need, let us do our jobs, and if Corporate needs a number to audit then let them go count paperclips or something.

I know that I am in the minority but I have a helper that is very proficient on DIAD III and he is much more a help than a hindrance. The DIAD upgrade now makes it easier to remove work from the drivers' DIAD that has been delivered by the helper. You don't have to go through and void stops that have already been delivered--it does it for you--all you have to do is hit accept. I don't agree with the argument about dissimilar DIADs having an adverse affect. I use my DIAD to keep track of where we are to make sure we don't miss any stops in a delivery section but we use both to make the deliveries.

One of the really annoying issues we are dealing with is that the driver/helper teams are being dispatched with dissimilar boards; the driver has a DIAD IV whereas the helper has a DIAD III.

Its hard enough to train a helper to become proficient on one type of DIAD. Getting him to be productive with two different ones is almost impossible. I cant count the number of times I have had to wait...and wait...and wait... while my helper is "locked up" on a screen in his DIAD that he cant get out of.

What makes this worse is the "quota". Operations or IE or some other entity has mandated that each driver helper sheet a minimum quota of 40 stops in his DIAD. This might seem like a bright idea from behind a desk, but in the real world it is a pain in the ass and most drivers simply prerecord the required 40 stops into the helper board before leaving in the morning in order to spoon-feed the corporate minder the number he wants to look at.

It would make a lot more sense to standardize DIAD types and let the driver with experience and area knowledge make the decision as to how many stops his helper will sheet. Some helpers are proficient with the DIAD; others arent. We are the ones who are out there working with them in the real world. Give us the tools we need, let us do our jobs, and if Corporate needs a number to audit then let them go count paperclips or something.

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The 40 stop minimum is due to local management playing with numbers. Corporate is aware of this and will eventually take action. To date, they have turned a blind eye to the stupid practice.

Its not likely that the practice will change to have helpers and drivers have the same type of board. Corporate deploys over 40,000 DIAD III's during peak season for helpers. They are only used for a few weeks and then returned back to Louisville.

By using the old DIAD III's, that keeps UPS from having to buy 40,000 extra DIAD IV's. When DIAD V comes out, then DIAD IV's will be used for peak.

BTW, even though the hardware is different, the software between the III's and IV's are the same. I'm not sure why the different hardware between the driver and helper would cause a problem.

Its not likely that the practice will change to have helpers and drivers have the same type of board. Corporate deploys over 40,000 DIAD III's during peak season for helpers. They are only used for a few weeks and then returned back to Louisville.

By using the old DIAD III's, that keeps UPS from having to buy 40,000 extra DIAD IV's. When DIAD V comes out, then DIAD IV's will be used for peak.

BTW, even though the hardware is different, the software between the III's and IV's are the same. I'm not sure why the different hardware between the driver and helper would cause a problem.

P-Man

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I agree that we should utilize existing equipment rather than incur the significant expense of buyng 40,000 additional DIADS.

A better choice might be to switch entire centers or even buildings...and their helpers...back to DIAD III for peak, rather than have the driver/helper combo operate with dissimilar DIADS.

The software of the different DIADS might be the same but the hardware and method of operation is vastly different. This is of no real consequence to an experienced driver...but to a peak hire or helper who is struggling to be productive on one type of DIAD it is even harder to use two.

Quite frequently in a tight residential neighborhood or office complex it is necessary for the driver/helper team to "juggle" DIADS. It helps immensely if both of those DIADS are identical.

If it is indeed the local management, why wait to "eventually" take action? Why would we knowingly turn a blind eye towards a demonstrably stupid practice in the first place?

Write a memo, announce at the PCM that the 40-stop rule has been rescinded, and move on.

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Sober,

Its much more complicated than that and the reason for the 40 stops is hard to explan. Truthfully, if I did, then management would look even more stupid.

I agree that corporate should take action right now, but its not the highest priority. I brought this up in a meeting 2 months ago...... Everyone looked at me and nodded. Agreed that it was stupid, but still no action.

I agree that we should utilize existing equipment rather than incur the significant expense of buyng 40,000 additional DIADS.

A better choice might be to switch entire centers or even buildings...and their helpers...back to DIAD III for peak, rather than have the driver/helper combo operate with dissimilar DIADS.

The software of the different DIADS might be the same but the hardware and method of operation is vastly different. This is of no real consequence to an experienced driver...but to a peak hire or helper who is struggling to be productive on one type of DIAD it is even harder to use two.

Quite frequently in a tight residential neighborhood or office complex it is necessary for the driver/helper team to "juggle" DIADS. It helps immensely if both of those DIADS are identical.

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Shipping DIAD's all over the country and back is expensive and not easy to control. Making whole centers entirely DIAD III or IV would require a lot of movement.

The DIAD III's are at a minimum 6 years old. Many are 10 years old or more. They are meant for limited use for a few week period.

For these reasons, I don't think anyone will look to change the practice.

Its much more complicated than that and the reason for the 40 stops is hard to explan. Truthfully, if I did, then management would look even more stupid.

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I always thought it was to reduce or eliminate bonus. I would bonus like crazy if it was just my diad doing 225 stops in 8 hours. But since almost 100 of those stops are on my helpers DIAD I don't look so good on paper the next morning.

Its much more complicated than that and the reason for the 40 stops is hard to explan. Truthfully, if I did, then management would look even more stupid.

I agree that corporate should take action right now, but its not the highest priority. I brought this up in a meeting 2 months ago...... Everyone looked at me and nodded. Agreed that it was stupid, but still no action.

P-Man

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In my almost 23 years with UPS I have witnessed enough monumentally stupid decisions made by various levels of management that nothing you told me now would really surprise me.

Its not that they are stupid managers; rather, they are smart managers doing stupid things in order to make themselves look better on paper.

For whatever reason...it makes a manager look better on paper when each helper has 40 stops in his DIAD, even when the process of obtaining that statistic is counterproductive to the operation.

Yet another example of the all-too-common scenario at UPS; its not what you accomplish that leads to promotion, its how good you look on paper pretending to accomplish it.

This sort of counterproductive behavior is why I have always felt that compensation for management people should be based upon years served rather than level attained. I have had the privelege of working for some truly gifted on-car and center-level managers who would nonetheless be out of their depth if they tried to climb any further up the ladder. Such people should be rewarded for staying at the level that they have proven to be best at, rather than have to try to exceed their abilities in order to make more money.

Such an approach would help to eliminate a lot of the counterproductive silliness we often see when supervisors manipulate meaningless statistics (40 stops per helper DIAD) in order to make themselves look better. Supervisors would have the freedom to do the right thing, the smart thing, rather than focusing on that which will help them get promoted.

As you once said...when the number itself becomes more important than the business element it was intended to measure, we have a problem.